


A Birthday Melody

by Valis



Series: Melodies of Red and Blue - Piano AU [2]
Category: Gravity Rush
Genre: A little lewd but nothing explicit, AU, F/F, Fluff, Piano AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 12:20:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13146576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valis/pseuds/Valis
Summary: For the pianist Raven it was a regular cold fall day, cleaning her apartment and trying to keep her crow under control, up until the moment Kat decides to make it special in a way that only she can.





	A Birthday Melody

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays everyone! I bring you the gift of more gravity gays.  
> Although this is something I started back in September for Raven Day, that fell into the same writers block pitfall as the main Melody story. But thankfully I seem to have cleared that funk entirely and, while I'm a day too late to get this done on MY birthday, we're just in time for Christmas proper so I can't be too mad.
> 
> Thanks as always to StumblingCamelid and the rest of the GGAC for taking time out of their holidays to look this over and edit. And shout outs to Charles and Sybil in particular for helping with scene ideas.
> 
> Please enjoy this little prequel to "A Melody of Red and Blue," set much earlier in Kat and Raven's relationship.

It had been a quiet, surprisingly chill September morning. Nothing out of the ordinary. Raven had gotten up, had breakfast, and got dressed under the lazy rays of the sun—eventually in her busy schedule she managed to find the time get a little cleaning done. Unfortunately, a cranky Xii decided to add to the clean up, tossing paperwork about and felling a few books that she had already returned to the shelves. She did, however, manage to catch him before he could hide the TV remote down the back of the couch cushions

The rambunctious crow clearly had too much energy after being cooped up inside, so after she was finished scolding him—to absolutely no effect—she pulled on her warmest jacket. Xii quickly realised what was going on, and happily hopped up onto her arm before the pair stepped out of their apartment.

Even well past dawn, Auldnoir was still asleep, Raven noted, as she traipsed her way through the cobbled streets. Xii took to the sky and flew ahead, his path already clear to him. Raven could hardly complain—it sure beat carrying him the whole way. She picked up the pace, following the bird as he perched on trees, streetlights, and fences waiting for her to catch up with a surprising amount of patience, before they reached the park.

While the park was nowhere near the size of the grand central one in the Vendecentre district, it was more than big enough for their purposes. A large open area for him to stretch his wings, plenty of trees near the edges, the kind of place a crow could feel comfortable. Way more so than a dusty cramped apartment.

Not for the first time, Raven mused over how she could get a bigger place for him. But, while her career was only growing in strength by the day, she was still a way off from being able to afford that on her own.

She made her way down the path between the grassy fields, sitting down on a bench and leaving Xii to his fun while she stayed deep in thought, running over her options, flicking through her mental catalogue over the different neighborhoods and their prices, what kind of necessity could become a privilege... She was so lost in her musing that she failed to notice that she was not the only person out in the park during these orange-hued hours.

So when a cold hand reached over the back of the bench and tapped her on the cheek, she let out an uncharacteristic shriek. She launched off of the bench, spinning to face her assailant and ready to throw a punch… only to immediately come to a dead halt when she was faced with a laughing Kat.

The blonde had to hold on to the back of the bench to keep herself upright, as the sight of a very disgruntled Raven sent her giggles into overdrive. Xii noticed the commotion and landed beside her hand, cawing hello until she gave him pets, though her attention was clearly left elsewhere.

Raven took her seat again, trying to maintain her pout despite how pleased she was to see the singer. Kat stepped around the bench and joined her while Xii flew back off to go antagonize some other birds.  
“You could’ve just said hello, you know?”  
“I could have,” Kat said, giggling again. “But that was way funnier.”  
“You sound like my brother.”  
Kat smiled at the remark, brushing her feet against the ground looking far too pleased with herself as Raven struggled to suppress a grin of her own.

The two slipped into a relaxed silence, with Raven keeping a watch on Xii to make sure he wouldn’t get into too much trouble, while Kat seemed amused watching the puffs of white mist as their breath hit the cold morning air. She had a shopping bag with her, but Raven decided not to pry; it was hardly strange to be doing grocery shopping, even this early. It wouldn’t be the first time Kat had ran out of eggs for breakfast omelettes, after all.

“Hey, Raven?” Kat asked, words rising along the stillness of the morning air.  
“What’s up?”  
“Xii was wild when you got him, right?”  
“Yeah. Zaza found him one day, when he wasn’t much older than a chick. Probably straight after leaving the nest. He had a busted wing, was half starved… so we did everything we could to nurse him back to health,” Raven said. “And then he kinda just stuck around. Guess he got attached to me.”  
“I can see how that’d happen.” Kat said quietly, lips pulling into a small smile.  
“Why’d you ask?”  
“Well, I was wondering you ever worry about ‘im? Like, if he’d ever just… fly away and not come back?”

Raven paused at that, mulling the possibility over. The thought had crossed her mind before for as long as she’d known the crow, and the idea of him being gone from her life wasn’t an especially happy one.  
“It’s his choice to make,” she said, eventually. “But somehow I doubt he’s gonna turn down free food and a warm and safe place to sleep.” This was even including the perks of having Kat spoil him to death whenever she visited Raven’s apartment, but she wasn’t stupid enough to say that out loud.  
“But what if he meets a nice lady crow and falls in love?”  
“Then I’ll have two crows,” Raven said, pausing for a moment. “But I’m probably gonna need a bigger apartment if that happens.”

While Raven had meant every word of that, the chuckle and wry smirk that followed played off the frustrating implications behind them. Watching Xii helped, too. He had found a tree with a particularly long branch waving in the wind, and the crow seemed to be enjoying bouncing on it and making it sway.  
“Someone’s easily amused.” Kat remarked.  
“Coming from you?”

Raven leaned away from the playful swipe from the mock-offended Kat. Their small pushes and laughter came to a halt when Xii returned, attracted by the sudden commotion. It seemed like he had had his fill of flying around, as he hopped down off of the back of the bench and onto Raven’s knee, staring up and demanding attention from the both of them.

But even as they stroked his feathers, his appetite for mischief had clearly not yet run dry, and he eventually started to clamber over Kat, sticking his beak into her shopping bag to investigate.  
“Hey! Get out of there before you break the eggs,” Kat chided, lightly pulling him back out and holding the bag closed. Raven was too busy watching Xii chuffing as he tried to squirm free and back into the bag— doubly so now that he was clearly not supposed to be in there—that she didn’t notice the glance look Kat shot her way.

Despite his valiant effort, even the most stubborn of crows had to admit defeat, and so when his owner stood up, the sulking bird retreated up onto an arm she held aloft for him.  
“We better get going before someone gets into any more trouble,” she said. “And I need to stop by Zaza’s before we head back home.”  
“Cool. Tell him I said hi!” Kat nodded, before looking up at Raven with an unusual shyness in her red eyes, “I got some things to do this morning, but I’ll be over later in the afternoon?”  
“I’ll see you then.” Raven nodded, leaning down to let Kat give her a quick hug. 

It wasn’t an especially tight embrace,—a certain ornery crow on her arm made that impossible—but it was more than enough that as she parted ways and headed out the park, she felt warm even against the cool morning breeze. Most of all, it was the brief parting kiss Kat had laid on her cheek, merely a brush of her lips, that put an extra spring in the musician’s step.

With Xii flying overhead once more, Raven weaved her way through Auldnoir’s streets. She turned away from the road leading back home, which seemed to confuse her aerial escort for a moment, before he realised their destination and rocketed off ahead.  
“Someone’s enthusiastic.” Raven mused to herself with a chuckle. It was no surprise that Xii was in a hurry. Zaza did always spoil him.

\- - -

Tucked away in a small side-street was a small storefront, with a colorful sign advertising the “Boutoume Flower Store.” Its windows filled with plants of all colors, giving the stone building a warm and inviting rainbow of life. Xii dropped back down from the rooftops and took his perch on her arm once more as Raven approached.

She paused at the front door, lost in memories of her younger days when her grandfather owned the store: helping with deliveries, making bouquets, and occasionally running away screaming from a stray bee until her older brother had to come to the rescue.

Now, however, she didn’t even flinch as one came buzzing by her arm, bumping into the window as it was briefly confused by the flowers on the other side of the glass before continuing on its merry way. She did have to nudge Xii to warn him against chasing it, but thankfully he was distracted from the insect by the ringing bell as she pushed the door open and stepped through the threshold.

“Welcome to Boutoum-” a young man behind the counter started to speak, falling silent as he saw who had walked through the door. He broke into a wide grin, briefly running a hand through the giant mess of black hair on his head as he leaned forward. “Rae! Not often I see you around this early!”  
“Hey, Zaza. I didn’t have much of a choice. Someone decided against letting me sleep this morning,” Raven said, jostling the arm Xii was perched on.  
“A troublemaker as always, huh?” Zaza laughed as the crow in question glided forward and perched on the countertop, eager for the treats he knew Zaza had stashed nearby.  
“Says the person who taught him.”  
“Guilty as charged,” Zaza said, reaching into a bag below the counter and pulling out an apple— from what was probably his lunch— and a pocketknife. He began to slice small chunks off for Xii, nudging the crow away to prevent him from making off with the whole thing in the process.

“So what brings my sweet lil’ sis down to a dusty old flower shop?” he managed to ask, once Xii was distracted with some apple slices. “Got a date lined up? Ya need a gift? Maybe for that cute singer girl?”  
“Not this time. Just took Xii out and felt like stopping in.”  
“Well, I can’t complain. It’s always nice to see you. But are you sure I can’t talk you into buying flowers for her anyway?”  
“Nope.”

Any further meddling attempts from him were put on hold as Xii got a little too brazen and attempted to take the mostly-intact apple straight out of Zaza’s grip, no longer wanting to wait for more apple slices when the source was right in front of him. Zaza was smart enough to keep his pocketknife well out of the way as Raven pulled the rambunctious crow off, catching a wing to the face in the process.

“Good thing we didn’t have a customer, because that did not look dignified,” Zaza mused once things had calmed down.  
“That’s one way to put it.” Raven said, looking across to the other end of the counter where Xii was off licking his wounds. “That why you were trying to extort business out of me? Things not going well?”  
“It’s a bit quiet, I’ll admit, but no more than it usually is this time of year. Give it a couple weeks, and suddenly it’s fall wedding season. We’ll be busy in no time again.”  
“Well, that’s a relief.”

The two siblings drifted into a silence, both reminiscing over many an afternoon spent playing in this store, laughing and sniffing the flowers as they darted around—and occasionally getting yelled at when hitting a certain bouquet—when their grandfather ran it. Raven might not have said it out loud, but Zaza knew how much the store meant to her. The smile she gave him told him as much, letting him know the faith she placed in him to keep the store running. And he wouldn’t be much of a big brother if he let her down, now, would he?

Xii chose this moment to creep back over, nudging against Raven’s arm and softly cawing.  
“Oh. You ready to behave now?” she asked, watching him shuffle back and forth almost nervously until she held out her arm for him to hop up onto. “Alright, Zaza. Better get going before he decides to cause more trouble.”  
“Probably smart. Last thing I need is a rampaging crow destroying my flowers,” Zaza said, a dull stare breaking into a grin.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he added as Raven moved towards the door. “Can’t believe you’re working that day.”  
“I don’t get to pick what days we’re performing.” Raven half-shrugged. “A contract’s a contract.”  
“Yeah, yeah… Anyway, it’s been a while since I got to listen to you play. And I still gotta meet this mystery girlfriend of yours!”  
“Zaza…” Raven’s tone dropped dangerously low, enough so that Xii looked startled.  
“What? Afraid I’ll scare her off? Come on Rae, it’s me— your darling elder brother!”  
“That’s what worries me.”

With that Raven made her escape, with the chime of the store’s doorbell cutting off any attempted retort. As she started walking down the path, she saw Zaza sticking out his tongue at her through the window. After a momentary glance to check that the street was empty, she returned the childish gesture.  
“Don’t tell Kat I did that,” she warned Xii. “She’ll never let me live it down.”

If Xii understood, he had no way of showing it. Raven had to lean her head away as he took to the skies again and the two headed back home, where the rest of the housekeeping waited. Thankfully the outing seemed to have satisfied Xii, meaning Raven could get on with her business without having to worry about her housemate sabotaging her every step of the way.

\- - -

She managed to finish cleaning the apartment just in time for lunch. But first she had to keep Xii occupied. A palmful of nuts, wrapped in a paper ball that was then wedged inside a cardboard tube did the trick. It would take him a little while to shred his way to the treats inside, leaving just enough time for Raven to make her sandwich without worrying about a crow snatching a loaf of bread. Again.

A knock at her door put a stop to that plan. Xii looked up from tearing open the cardboard tube as Raven passed by him on her way to the apartment’s entrance. The musician pulled it open to find a very familiar singer standing on her doorstep.

“Hey! Sorry I’m early,” Kat said with a smile, although it lacked some of the enthusiasm it held earlier.  
“I’m not going to complain,” Raven said, stepping aside to let Kat pass before shutting the door behind them.

Something didn’t quite feel right about her, she seemed too upright, hair and face patched with a faint hint of a white powder, and her eyes and attention were everywhere else as she clutched the handles of the bag she carried against her chest. Raven couldn’t see what was inside, so instead she focused on the obvious, reaching up to brush her finger across Kat’s cheek, and the white powder that stained it.

“...Flour?” Raven questioned, recognizing its texture. Kat sighed and held out the bag as an offering. The pieces started to click as Raven pulled a large tin out of the bag, placing it on a counter and popping it open.

“...It didn’t exactly turn out great,” Kat mumbled as Raven looked over the cake she had been presented with. It was lopsided, one side clearly taller than the other. The edges showed signs of being nearly burnt, and the icing was an uneven mess

“I’d never really had to make a cake before, but I wanted to make one instead of buying it, but I probably should have done that instea-” Kat’s train of thought came to a screeching halt as Raven pulled her in close and laid a light kiss on the cheek that wasn’t coated in flour.  
“What did I do to deserve you?”

Kat immediately shut up at the response. Before her mind could begin to form a response, Raven was already scrambling to save the cake from a very curious Xii.  
“Icing’s not for crows!” she warned, pulling the tin away from the corvid as he peered inside.  
“Caw!” Xii disagreed, trying his best to get at his newfound prize before Raven could shut the lid.  
“No.”

Thankfully Kat came to the rescue, distracting Xii by picking up—by stealing—his cardboard tube, allowing Raven to scurry back to the kitchen with her gift intact. Kat dropped herself down onto the couch, Xii hopping up onto the armrest and eager to reclaim and enjoy what was rightfully his. Kat obliged him, and Xii sat content, finding it easier now that he had a human to hold the tube steady for the shredding.

It took him about a few minutes to finish destroying the tube and eat the nuts inside, with the singer watching in him in amusement as he went, before he climbed onto Kat’s lap to demand attention.  
“You and Dusty are pretty alike,” she mused, happy to indulge him. “I didn’t even know you could get lap-birds.”  
“You can’t, normally. Zaza just spoiled him rotten,” Raven called out from the other room, over the sounds of plates and cutlery rattling.  
“Oh, and you don’t spoil him at all.” Kat fired back, quietly eyeing the pile of toys Raven had bought for him on top a nearby cabinet.

There was quiet footsteps as Raven came back from the kitchen, causing Xii to vacate Kat’s lap to go see if there was any scavenging to be done in the kitchen as his mistress leaned over the back of the couch.  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she deadpanned before she held out a plate with some of Kat’s cake on it. “Want some?”

Kat took the offering, Raven sitting down beside her with a plate of her own and ready to tuck in before the singer realised something. “Hang on! This is supposed to be for tomorrow!”  
“It’s lunch time, I’m hungry. And you brought me cake,” Raven said, feeling the facts were very much on her side. “I’m not waiting for tomorrow. But if you don’t want yours...”

Raven slowly reached across the couch, fingers almost touching the plate before Kat yanked it away. Raven laughed. The offense in the wide-eyed horror of her girlfriend’s eyes was too much. Yet even Kat’s indignant glare gradually cracked into a giggling fit, with the two having to take a moment to calm down before they could get back to the task in front of them.

Kat watched out of the corner of her eye, nervously, as Raven dug her spoon into her cake and raised it to her lips. There was a painful hush that rang in Kat’s ears as she waited for her baking’s judgement. Raven was tempted to drag it out longer, well aware of what Kat was waiting for, but instead she flashed a warm smile after she swallowed the treat, blue eyes locking with red as she gazed at her girlfriend.  
“It’s good!” she pronounced her verdict. “Really. Thanks for making it, Kat.”

A look of relief swept across Kat’s face, sharing Raven’s smile as she sank into the couch, although the rumbling of her stomach stopped her from dwelling on it too much as she tucked into her slice of cake too. It did not take the two of them long to clear their plates.  
“I think I put a too much sugar in there, it was a little too sweet,” Kat said.  
“I liked it,” Raven said. “I guess hanging around you gave me a fondness for sweet things.”

Kat’s spoon dinked against her plate as she stared into Raven’s piercing blue eyes, lips just faintly parted as she sat, dumbstruck.  
“... Not often you’re speechless.” Raven said, unable to resist the urge to tease her partner.  
“I wasn’t expecting it!” Kat insisted.  
“I’ll give you a heads up next time I try flirting, then.”  
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it…” Kat said, feeling her ears beginning to grow hot.

Raven leaned across the couch, wrapping her arm around Kat’s shoulders and pulling her into a side hug. She couldn’t help it, the blond singer was just too adorable sometimes. Although she was also acutely aware that Kat was going to get payback sooner or later.  
“That’s something to look forward to.”  
“What?” Kat glanced up at her, confused.  
“Nothing, just thinking out loud...”

Raven, more that a little begrudgingly, let go of Kat to stand up before taking their empty plates to put them away. And to go see what mess Xii had gotten himself into in the five minutes he’d been left alone after having been denied yet another treat today. Thankfully, he still had yet to figure out the locks on the cabinets, although she did have to recruit Kat’s help to chase him down and reclaim the dishcloth he had stolen.

\- - -

With the dishes taken care off, the two settled down for a quiet afternoon, with Raven play with Xii while Kat chatted about whatever came to mind. It was these ordinary, passing moments of little consequence that meant everything to the two, especially Raven—not that she would ever admit it out loud.

Eventually Xii got tired and headed off to his perch for a nap, leaving the two to settle down to watch bad movies on TV as the sun started to set. They settled on ordering pizza for dinner, the two recognizing that Kat’s cake would hardly suffice as an appropriate meal—though this didn’t mean it wouldn’t be eaten, anyway.

As the time strayed by, Raven only just realised how late it was getting as afternoon became evening, before the orange tinge of dusk fell into night. The time always seemed to pass in the blink of an eye when she was with Kat, compared to the way the days had dragged on before they had met. 

Not for the first time, she wondered if Kat felt the same way, but she didn’t know how best to bring the question up. Although, as she looked over at her girlfriend curled into her side and giggling at the incredibly tacky looking costume of the movie’s monster, she knew that it was something that she might already know the answer to.

“I know that it has ‘Battle’ in the title, but… why does a nurse have to fight monsters, anyway?” Raven asked. “She’s just kicking them.”  
Kat frowned, then answered with a shrug. “The hat gives her magical powers, right? But they didn’t really explain that very well…”  
“They haven’t explained anything at all.”  
“Well.. maybe they explain it in the sequel?”  
“... This made enough money back for a second one?” Raven asked, with Kat answering with a muffled “mmm-hmm” against her shoulder. “Well, it can’t be any more cheesy than this one.”

As Battle Nurse came to a close, an advertisement showed off the sequel for the next time slot, and so the two stuck around. And Raven learned that she was very, very wrong. The laughter and questions eventually just dissolved into further confusion, and all of the emotional earnestness of the original was gone, They made it only half an hour in before it was too much, and they had to turn it off. Raven sat there, struggling to figure out if she was more bewildered, annoyed, or amused at what they had just watched. Kat had clearly settled on the last option, giggling to herself.  
“That was so dumb! Who runs along train tracks like that? And what was the point of that rooftop chase scene?!”  
“There’s not a third one, right?” Raven asked.  
“Mmm, nah, don’t think so.”  
“... I don’t know if I could take another one.”  
“Oh God, can you imagine how bad that’d be?” Kat broke down into another giggling fit as she began to describe the battle nurse bounding across skyscrapers once more, with Raven joining in as they envisioned their own thrilling conclusion to the trilogy.

Eventually they managed to calm down and catch their breath once their epic had ended, enjoying the fall back down as the sounds of their laughter was taken over by the sounds of their breathing. They sat, curled up together on the couch in the quiet apartment, Kat idly running her hand through Raven’s hair while Raven held her close.

“We should probably go to bed soon. We do have a show tomorrow,” Raven said, fingers brushing and tightening over Kat’s shoulder. The singer grumbled at the idea of getting up when she was so comfortable. “Hey, you’re the one that wants to practice in the mornings.”  
“I know, I know… is your brother still coming?”  
“Yeah. Are you nervous about meeting him?”  
“A little.” Kat admitted, curling a red strand of her girlfriend’s hair around her finger as she fidgeted. “What if he doesn’t like me dating his sister?”  
“He will. I promise.” 

Raven paused, placing her hand over Kat’s. “To be honest, I was always more worried about Xii not liking you.”  
“Really?” Kat asked, raising an eyebrow.  
“He can be pretty... overprotective when he wants to be. But he took to you really quickly.”  
“Same with you and Dusty. Never saw him warm up to someone so fast. I think he liked you faster than he did me!”  
Raven grinned at the comment. “So you shouldn’t be worried about Zaza. If anything, I’m the one who should be worried.”  
Kat adjusted herself, moving closer into Raven’s embrace as she asked, “Why’s that?”  
“He really likes telling embarrassing stories. Especially about me.”  
“You have embarrassing stories?!” The sudden twinkle in Kat’s eye said that she wanted to hear these tales very, very much. Raven made a mental note to never leave her and Zaza unattended, lest the two team up to ruin her reputation forever.

Kat eventually pulled away from Raven, asking to use the bathroom. While she headed off, Raven was far too preoccupied collecting the empty pizza boxes to notice the mischievous smirk crossing the singer’s face when Kat scooped up her bag before ducking into the bathroom.

Raven finished putting the boxes away, eager to keep her living room looking respectable after the amount of time she had spent cleaning it. A brief detour was made to confirm that Xii was still asleep and not destroying anything, and then she found herself back on the couch, heaving out an exhausted sigh as she glanced up at the ceiling, waiting for Kat to reemerge before they could go to bed.

The bathroom door clicked open, Kat’s footsteps crossing the carpet.  
“Hey… I know this is a little early but,” she said, “I did bring you one more present.”

Raven turned to look, sharp eyes blinking rapidly before widening at the sight before her. Instead of her warm sweater and pants, Kat had changed into a dark robe that went down to her knees, wrapped tight around her. She sat back down next to Raven, careful to keep the dressing gown covering her and only giving the tiniest glimpses of what lay underneath.

“Well, aren’t you gonna open it?” Kat’s question managed to reboot Raven’s brain from where it had shut down upon realising what was going on. The musician’s breathing suddenly grew heavy, and a somewhat nervous chuckle hummed up from Kat’s chest as they locked eyes with each other. Then, eventually Raven reached towards the tie belt that held the gown closed, and the singer’s teasing smile deepened, feeling her heartbeat increased as her girlfriend’s fingers trail along the fabric.

But at the last moment Raven’s hand pulled away, switching targets to Kat’s shoulders. Kat looked confused for a moment, before Raven started to tap down her arm, while her other hand danced over the hem at the top of her robe, almost tracing her collarbone. She flashed a knowing smirked as she turned the tables on Kat.  
“Hmm, I wonder what it could be?” Raven asked through lidded eyes. “I don’t see a tag on it anywhere...”  
“Raven, stop!” Kat pleaded, trying not to break into laughter at her partner’s antics.

Raven soon obliged her, not wanting to kill the mood. A gentle tug and the gown’s belt came loose, revealing Kat’s present to her: a thin, black lingerie embroidered with lace, with the bra featuring an opening across the chest that the shape of a cat’s head.

Raven felt her brain starting to shut down again as she looked over her gift, giving no resistance as Kat, with a wide grin and impatient hands, pulled her girlfriend in for a kiss.  
“Happy Birthday, Raven,” Kat whispered into her ear, turning her attention to the clock on the wall that had just ticked over to midnight.


End file.
